A Reader Asks: I have heard a lot of people talk about journaling, and often write down what is on my mind, my prayer …

Question:I have heard a lot of people talk about journaling, and often write down what is on my mind, my prayer requests etc. But, doesn’t this give Satan ammunition to come against us? If he knows our struggle isn’t this like giving the enemy your secret battle plan? I would be very interested to know your thoughts on this.

Answer:

Well, it’s an interesting question I’ve not ever thought about.

Satan is not God. He is not omniscient. He cannot read your mind in the sense that he (or any demon) can literally know your thoughts like God can. However, he can “read us” very well, probably better than any human, even our close friends or spouse.

Let me say here, that when I say “Satan” I really mean any fallen angel. Satan himself is not omnipresent, and is probably busy somewhere else, but is true that other demons do indeed fight against us, but cannot truly read our minds.

So would writing down your inner most thoughts and struggles give demons ammunition to work with? Umm…… ummm…. maybe.

However, I would think that the fallen angels who are constantly stalking us probably already know all our weaknesses, struggles and temptations anyway because we can hardly keep from exposing them, especially in private. Very few temptations stay bottled in the mind and never make it to our lips, choices or attitudes.

But I suppose it would be possible to reveal something in a journal that a demon otherwise didn’t know and could use against us. I don’t see any reason to think that is not possible.

I think if a journal is used to be self-obssessed or to wallow in the past, it could be especially juicy for demonic use. That’s why I encourage people if they use a journal to use it for writing down God’s Word, prayers, answered prayers, praises, etc.

There is no Biblical imperative to journal, so whether it is profitable or not is strictly an individual conviction.

Again, I don’t think anything we would journal would be truly secret in our mind anyway because whatever is in our hearts comes out in prayer, actions, struggles, etc. There is no way to “hide” things from Satan, and I don’t think it’s much of an issue anyway simply because the Bible doesn’t address anything close to “keep it in your mind quietly so Satan doesn’t find out”.

Good rule of thumb: if the Bible doesn’t reveal something as an important consideration, then it’s not. The Bible doesn’t say anything about being careful not to reveal something to Satan he could use against us, so I would not consider this much to be concerned about.

As a Christian, hidden in Christ, sealed by the Holy Spirit and cared for by God Himself, I’m all the more unconcerned about Satan “knowing something” I wrote down.

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